John Foxe

Foxe, John,

1516–87, English clergyman, author of the noted Book of Martyrs. He early became a Protestant and, when Mary Tudor became queen, he fled from England to Strasbourg. There was printed (1554), in Latin, the first part of his history of the persecution of Protestant reformers. Foxe moved to Basel and had published (1559) the first complete edition, in Latin, of his history. After Elizabeth's accession, an expanded English edition appeared (1563) entitled The Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perilous Dayes. The work was commonly known as the Book of Martyrs, and its chief purpose was to praise the heroism and piety of the Protestant martyrs of Mary's reign. The book was widely read, and its influence was extensive, although as history it is highly prejudiced and not altogether trustworthy.

For the influence of earlier illustrations on the Book of Martyrs' illustrations, see Margaret Aston and Elizabeth Ingram, "The Iconography of the Acts and Monuments," in John Foxe and the English Reformation, ed.

By 1570, things had become so bitter that John Foxe, author of the famed English Book of Martyrs, lamented in a Good Friday sermon that "such dissension and hostility Satan hath sent among us, that Turks be not more enemies to Christians, than Christians to Christians, papists to Protestants, yea, Protestants with Protestants do not agree, but fall out for trifles.

In a riveting new study of the life and work of William Tyndale - John Foxe in his famous, and almost contemporary Book Of Martyrs, spells it Tindale - Brian Moynahan unveils the scholarly Tyndale as a fiery reformer.

Merial, referred to by John Foxe as 'a zealous favourer of God's word', was accused by Twyford of affirming that Christ's Passion helped only those already in limbo when He died, and not those who came after Him.

Each chapter is devoted to a single play (except Chapter 4, which tackles two) and also examines a variety of non-Shakespeare textual sources, such as works by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Michel de Montaigne, John Foxe, Thomas Cromwell, Francis Bacon, and Rene Descartes.

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